Al Jarreau has to be one of the most versatile singers on the planet. On this CD alone, he manages scat, vocalese, breathy ballads, soul declamation and even a range of clicks, pops and grunts that amount to a kind of vocal percussion. Fortunately, he also has the good taste to use this bundle of talents appropriately, so that it never sounds as though he is just showing off. His treatments of well-known songs can be pretty radical, but he does it with a light touch and somehow always manages to preserve the essence of the original. It seems that Jarreau and pianist Larry Williams came up with the arrangements between them, which probably accounts for their perfect stylistic match with the vocals and the spot-on choice of musicians, such as Larry Goldings on Hammond organ and Tollak Ollestad on harmonica.

Romane & Stochelo RosenbergDouble Jeu

(Iris Music)

The European genre known as 'gypsy jazz' now covers an enormous range of expression, from the traditional string-swing pioneered in the 1930s by Django Reinhardt to the intense, sometimes even violent music of these two brothers. It has always been the habit of gypsy artists to take the music they hear around them and adapt it for their own purposes, so we should not be surprised to discover the Rosenbergs producing variants of funk and even drum'n'bass on their acoustic guitars. At other times, they play with a gentle lyricism, tinged with melancholy, that recalls the folk roots of their music. The beautiful 'Melody for Babik' is the shortest but most compelling of these 11 pieces.

Illinois JacquetDesert Winds (Verve)

'Mellow' is the word for this - broad-toned, easygoing tenor saxophone, loping beat, comfortable tempos, no sweat. In his youth, Jacquet was the most manic of all the honkers and screamers, but by 1964, when this was made, he had found his groove and kept it for 40 years, until his death last July at 81. The virtues of unpretentious music like this lie not in its power to surprise but in the deftness with which superb players like Jacquet, guitarist Kenny Burrell and pianist Tommy Flanagan manipulate familiar themes and create a gentle, irresistible momentum.